12/16/13 email

It's already been 7 months?! I can't believe it!

 

Mom and Dad,

 

Time doesn't go slow on your mission. You two probably already knew that, though. Let's see what happened this week...

 

We were able to meet with the investigator who's daughter just turned 8-years-old and is very tired because of his hard work. We didn't actually have an appointment so I wasn't sure he would be able to meet with us--some members picked us up and drove us there--but, he let us in. We had a really great lesson. He's starting to understand repentance and feels better little by little and I feel we're making some great progress with him. We even were able to set up an appointment for today, and he said he'll come to church next week. It's wonderful to see what a difference it makes when you treat a person the way the Savior would treat them. He's been opening up and sharing things with us, and that makes it way easier to help him.

 

Tuesday wasn't very special. We had our normal weekly appointment with one of our investigators. He had forgotten about it and couldn't meet with us. I concerned about him since it's been a couple weeks since we've met with him. Other than that, I taught the word 'flabbergasting' to the eikaiwa students.

 

Wednesday had us biking out to Najio (that really far-away, hilly place we went to last Sunday) to find the other PI's around there. We ended up meeting quite a few interesting people, including one really chill guy who grew up in Nishiwaki and is a huge car enthusiast. He has some pretty awesome cars at his house. Going down one hill, however, the brakes on Pace Choro's bike went out and he hit the guard rail on the side and ended up tearing a small hole in his suit slacks. The front tire on the bike also got kind of bent. He's okay, though, so don't worry.

 

On Thursday we went out again to a really distant place (farther than Najio) Kashiwagi. There was a really solid-looking former investigator out there and I wanted to house the area since it had likely been a while. To our pleasure--and later, our displeasure--the ride there was almost all downhill. You can imagine coming back was a nightmare: 5 or 6 straight kilometers of going uphill... Anywho, the former investigator was way nice, but wasn't interested. We also found out that that neighborhood is very affluent--it is a secluded neighborhood on top of a hill. Every single house was HUGE--even by American standards--and each look completely unique. One looked like the Lincoln Memorial, one looked like a big concrete wall, one looked like the Hawaii temple, and one even looked like a yacht!

 

Friday was District Meeting, so nothing out of the ordinary. We also managed to find 3 PI's while housing, though 2 ended up turning us down. One of them is still a possibility to teach! We also dropped by the JW to have another discussion. We wanted to sit down with him and give him a lesson, but he is not ready to. He gave us a little piece of paper with some scriptures on it in English to explain what he was saying.

 

Saturday we had planned to be really busy with four lesson appointments. However, the family for one appointment wasn't home and another was a PI from the previous night. We ended up with two. One was with the Filipino who is way awesome and is getting even better. We taught lesson three and he understood it completely. The other was with the really smart GC investigator. I'm very glad to say that he's doing great. He's learned a lot of the lessons, since he has met almost every week with missionaries for almost a year now. We make lessons from scratch that are designed to help him gain that witness that everything is true. I think it's going great!

 

Sunday, as we were putting fliers for the ward Christmas party in the post of all the houses around the church, we came across two JW's that were doing some dendo themselves. The crazy part: while we didn't actually stop and talk with them, we're pretty certain one of them is the JW we've been visiting every week! But anyway, after that we went to a Christmas party the Ward Mission Leader hosted at his house. It was sooo fun! We participated in the gift exchange which everyone brought something $5 or less and swapped them around 'til they said 'stop'. I brought a homemade stocking with a Santa hat, beard, and Halloween garland stuffed in it. They loved it! I got a (small) pink blanket with a hood that has pink bear ears on it. I'm honestly pretty satisfied with it; it keeps my head and shoulders warm! That was pretty much my week! The home teachers shared a message, as did the missionaries. The message I came up with to share was from 1 Nephi 11:21-22. The angel showing Nephi his father's dream asks earlier if he understands what the fruit means. Upon responding 'no', the angel shows him the birth of Christ, and Nephi says how he then understood that the fruit is a symbol of God's love. I made the connection that the angel showed Christ to explain love because not only does Christ love everyone unconditionally, but He Himself is the single greatest, purest symbol for love as shown by what He did during His ministry. I then made the normal reminder that Christmas is really about Christ, though we may all like singing and eating and getting presents. It was kind of hard in Japanese.

 

 よし is spelled in English as 'yoshi', yes, but it's more of an exclamation like 'woohoo!'

 

I got the package today! It actually came yesterday, but we were at the Christmas party, so I got a slip telling me to call and inform them when we'd be home. I haven't opened anything yet; the box is sitting on my desk.

 

We actually don't skype for the Christmas call. You call us through our area cell phones since we have no other way of making international calls. The calls are supposed to be on Christmas day for you, so the 26th for me, and should only be 59 minutes. Those were the instruction we received in the weekly mission email today.

 

That pretty much wraps up my email for this week. You'll get another next week, and of course we'll be talking a couple days after that. Give my best!

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老

December 9th, 2013

Mom and Dad,

 

It was kind of a tough week because nothing worked out super well.

 

Monday was a normal pday.

 

Tuesday morning, we got a call from our investigator whom we planned to be teaching later that evening. He's really hard to understand in person so he's even harder to understand what he says over the phone. He said he couldn't meet with us that day. I asked about Wednesday, but he said he was on vacation. I told him I'd call just to set a time when we could meet, and he said that'd be fine. That night was eikaiwa again. I've been doing an exercise where I give the students a blank sheet of paper and have them write a few sentences about their week. They give the paper to me so I can correct it, and then I give it back the next week and they do it all over again. There's this one 19-year-old female member in the ward who comes every week, whose parents really want her to go on a mission. Last year, after the age change, I was told she went up during Fast and Testimony Meeting and said there was no way she wouldn't serve a mission. Her parents have been having us four missionaries give her and their 22-year-old son encouragement to serve missions. Well, what she wrote about was how she finally decided she will! よし！ I later found out from her that her brother also decided to serve. Double よし！

 

On Wednesday afternoon, I called one of our investigators to see if he could meet that day. He said he couldn't. I told him if he had some time free up to give us a call and we'd meet. He didn't give us a call, so we'll meet with him tomorrow as scheduled. Other than that, we went to drop off the "dendo tackle box"--a small box with various items for members to use to dendo people they know. The members also report on any progress to the missionaries. The family that had it the previous week forgot to bring it back to church so this weeks member couldn't take it home. Fortunately, she lives close to the Viking restaurant. More tabehodai yakiniku! Again: よし！ Then we spent the rest of the day housing in that part of town. We found a family from Khazakstan, who were really interested in eikaiwa for their kids. What amazed me most is how they, native Russian-speakers, and us, native English-speakers, communicated through Japanese! There are tons of little things and miracles like that that make me smile every time they happen. Something similar happened a couple transfers ago when I was in Miki with the DL--we talked to two Vietnamese women in Japanese. Awesome!

 

Now we'll go on to Friday, since Thursday wasn't exciting. We had ZTM in Kobe (again!). I guess the huge influx of missionaries in the mission really complicates Kaicho's schedule. Before the age change, there were about 120 missionaries. Now there are probably around 260! Crazy! Anywho, that Friday night we went again to the JW to talk more with him and hopefully have a lesson with him. We still were only able to talk for 15 minutes or so at his genkan, but maybe next week things will work out.

 

Saturday afternoon we taught the Filipino guy. It turns out he didn't show up last week because his relative in Osaka got hit by a car and he went to visit him. We taught him the Plan of Salvation since he showed a lot of interest in where we came from, why we're here, where we're going, etc. He understood and loved it all! Especially when we talked and testified about the Atonement and Salvation. He spoke up and commented on how "right" it sounded and how it all made sense. Though he's Catholic, he's never learned in-depth about the Atonement, it's meaning, and how Salvation works.

 

Later that night we met with the GC investigator. After last week, he was really understanding Christ, His Atonement, and His Sacrifice for us. I even mentioned last week that he said that essentially he's considering being baptized more than he was before. This week, to help him see and understand what baptism means for him and what he can gain through it, we wanted to teach him about eternal life and what that means. He understands the doctrine so the whole lesson became a testimony meeting with us and the members that were there. He also said that he wants to have eternal life, and will be baptized when he comes to learn that it is true.

 

Sunday. Exhausting. After church we rode out to a part of our area called "Najio". I learned that Najio is full of hills. Really. Long. Hills. The time I estimated it would take to travel around there pretty much doubled. We didn't have much time to dendo around there because of it and because we had a dinner appointment with a member. The member lives kind of far from the apartment: on the opposite side from where Najio is. Once we were at the member's place, she had us take out a huge, wooden dresser from her apartment. Her fourth floor apartment--in a danchi with no elevator and narrow stairwells. Let's just say that I probably ate a very good portion of the food that she prepared. I also slept really well that night.

 

Our one investigator that has a difficult time remembering is keeping a notebook of our lessons and he writes quite a bit during the lesson. We'll probably need to help him review it. It's also probably a good idea to look at what he writes

 

In just over two weeks I'll be calling home! I am really looking forward to it!

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老

12/2/13 email

Mom and Dad,

 

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm sure you all enjoyed it (and the jello salad). Japanese people don't celebrate Thanksgiving, even though they made a word just for it--yet they don't have a word for Christmas. Pace Choro's family sent some Thanksgiving related dinner stuff, and we bought a couple of special things and made our own mini-Thanksgiving dinner! It was pretty good, although it could've used some jello salad. You'll have to tell me about your Thanksgiving.

 

Monday: Just a normal preparation day with the added activity of buying special things for Thanksgiving dinner. We also went out to track down some PI's--none of them were home. We shared our beliefs with a person who's Jehova's Witness and he is going to let us come back and tell him more about our beliefs.

 

Tuesday: We had Zone Conference (Zone大会, if you remember) in Kobe. It was SOOO good. It ended up going a lot longer than they planned and ended after 5 in the evening (it began at 10 in the morning). We ended up having to reschedule a lesson we had planned for the day, but everything worked out well. We got back to Kitarokko at about 7:30pm. 大会 was really good and everything President and Sister Zinke, as well as the Assistants said was really powerful. At the end, the missionaries returning home this transfer or the next transfer had the opportunity to bear a quick testimony. Both of the AP's are going home and bore powerful testimonies--it was really awesome!

 

Wednesday: Today we had the lesson we rescheduled with one of our investigators. I think I already mentioned this, but he's very concerned about showing faith and repenting before he is baptized. Last week, Hiratsuka Choro and I showed him how he can show faith and how he can repent. Last week, the lesson went great and he saw that he really was showing faith, and even seemed happier by the end. He still feels he has a lot more repenting to do. Later in the evening we went to track more PI's. There was one guy that talked to us at his front gate, but since it started pouring down rain he asked us to come back on a day with no rain. Long story short, we got pretty drenched.

 

Thursday: Thanksgiving! Yes, that means we had our dinner! Other than that, we went and visited a devout-Catholic PI family. The mom is actually from Texas so all the kids are half Japanese. They all are fluent in English and Japanese. They're all extremely kind, especially to us missionaries. They had just put in Despicable Me 2, but stopped it to just talk with us for and hour or so. They're really great people, and they gave us pizza (real pizza, not Japanese pizza), rye bread, special apples, Hershey Kisses, M&M's, bacon (real bacon, not Japanese bacon), and a book that the oldest daughter wrote based off her journal from when she did missionary work with some nuns in Taiwan for three months. All-in-all it was a pretty good day.

 

Friday: The only thing worth speaking about for Friday was we met with the JW from Monday. We only spoke at the genkan of his apartment rather than going in. We asked him about his beliefs then we shared the Articles of Faith. We asked if he had questions, which we answered. He didn't seem too likely to invite us back, but after he asked us about what we believe Jesus' name is and God's name is and talked about that for a bit, he said we could drop by next week. Alright!

 

Saturday: We had a lesson with the really smart GC investigator. During personal study, We just prayed and begged for answers about what he needs to learn to progress. I turned to the mission training plan. Upon reading the very first line, which quotes the first part of the missionary purpose, it struck me that he needs to know about Christ, why he's important, and how everything we do is in His name. As I continued to read the training plan, more idea's came, so I wrote them all down and we put together a lesson from those during companion study. That night, the lesson really had an impact on him. He may not be any closer to being baptized, but now he's actually considering it.

 

Sunday: Just the normal Fast and Testimony meeting. Also while going to a PI/PM-family, we ran into an old investigator that the current AP's taught lessons to a year ago! We were just stopped at an intersection in a neighborhood, it was pitch black, and I saw movement in the shadows so I looked over and saw her washing her car. I made a small remark about Japanese addresses being hard to find, and then she told me how to get back to the church from that spot. Naturally, I asked how she knew and I found out her story about meeting with the missionaries last year and such. It was pretty cool. I'm certain it wasn't just by chance. That night we also had dinner with a young family moving to Osaka in two weeks. They served us yakiniku!

 

I love this country!

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老

11/25/13 email

Mom and Dad,

 

So yeah, time is going by way too fast. It feels like I arrived in Japan just last week. I also re-read my mission call letter and can vividly remember it. That was almost a year ago!

 

Monday: Hiratsuka Choro was transferring so he had to spend preparation day packing. After 6:00pm we went to visit a PI family a little ways away. They weren't home so we went on to house in a neighboring area. We had just started heading back when I had the feeling to visit them again. We went back and the 15 year old son was home. I feel like we were guided back there.

 

Tuesday: So at kids' eikaiwa, there's this non-member that brings her 2-or-3 year old son. This little boy looks at us while we're teaching and it seems like he's thinking "oh my goodness, what on earth are these two gaijin doing?" It's really funny. We also had a lesson with one of our investigators. When we extended the baptismal invitation last week, he rejected it because he didn't feel like he was showing faith or repenting, so naturally he couldn't take the nest step and get baptized. This week we taught him nothing but faith and helped him realize that he's showing faith little by little as he meets with us, prays, reads the BoM, etc. He really seemed to cheer up by the end, so I'm hoping he'll be more receptive to the idea of being baptized and following the Savior. Also, at eikaiwa, the word this week was 'supercalifragilisticexpialodocious'. They were all disappointed to learn that it's not actually a word. We also got cupcakes and a roll cake from members because Hiratsuka Choro was transferring out. I'm starting to like transfers. ;)

 

Wednesday: What a great day (you'll see why soon). Last week we dropped off the bike that lost the pedal at the bike shop: we went to pick it up today. The problem was it's a 40 minutes bike ride but we didn't have bikes. So...we walked all the way there. It's all good because we streeted as much as we could on the way. After getting the bike, we went and housed the entire area of new houses and young families that I have mentioned in previous emails. That took quite a while! Afterwards, since it was Hiratsuka's last day, we went to lunch at TABEHODAI YAKINIKU. New favorite food: yakiniku. Beef Wellington comes in a close second. Following that, we rode back to the church and had a lesson with the GC investigator. We taught a lot more about how prayers are answered and revelations are received. We gave him the talk "Spirit of Revelation" by Bednar Choro. I think I mentioned it last week: it's an awesome talk and very helpful in teaching about the spirit of revelation.

 

Thursday: Transfers! We headed down to Kobe to go our separate ways and meet our new companions. I finally got to see a lot of people that I was in the MTC with at the transfer spot. It was sooo great. There's one guy, Steers Choro, who was originally my trainer's MTC companion, but due to health and other things left after a week and a half. He then came out again and we were in the MTC together. He's a way solid missionary, and he's now a zone leader in his 4th transfer! That's how awesome he is. Anyway, I got my new companion, Pace Choro. He's18 years old and fresh out of high school. He turned 18 a couple weeks before entering the MTC. He's got plenty of energy to make it over the hills in Kitarokko. After taking him back to Kitarokko, we went out and housed since there were no other previous plans.

 

Friday: There was a lot of bike riding and housing. That pretty much was the entire day.

 

Saturday: We met with one of our investigators. All I can say is he is awesome! He has incredible amounts of interest in the Plan of Salvation and, as he said, he wants to "come around" to the faith he originally had growing up. I have a great amount of hope for this guy! We're meeting with him next Saturday. We would like to meet with him more but, since he works at the school, he's pretty busy and tired on weekdays. Saturday was also the first day I really felt the responsibilities of being senior companion.

 

Sunday: So I felt the stress today. After church, we had a couple of surprise things that came up that kept us from our original plans. We also ended up re-planning the day because we originally thought we'd be attending a priesthood fireside in Kobe, but it turns out that it wasn't for missionaries. We also took a long time to plan a lesson we weren't even sure we'd get to teach that night. BUT, after the ward mission leader got back from Kobe, he took us to the investigator we wanted to visit and we were able to have a lesson with him. We chatted and then started into the lesson we had prepared. A short time into the lesson, I had the prompting that we needed to just talk and show Christ-like love--something he doesn't have from anyone else. We testified, at the end, that the Lord loves him and wants him to return to Him. We thought that would help him more than the planned lesson--and it really did! He even gave us each bro-hugs after the lesson. Unfortunately, we went a little long and I got several calls from the district leader and zone leaders--they were beginning to think something happened to us because I hadn't yet reported in. It all worked out in the end.

 

That's all for this week. Next week is the start of December! I expect in 30 days or so I'll be calling home! Seeing how time has gone quickly, those 30 days will be over tomorrow.

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老

11/18/13 email

Mom and Dad,

 

So, the end of transfers means the two shimai and I are staying, but Hiratsuka (who's been here for three transfers) is going to Tsuyama to work with a Choro who was in my MTC district, and to be a DL. My new companion as of this next Thursday will be Pace Choro. I have no idea who he is, but he must be younger in the field than I am because it says I'll be senior companion. Crazy! He's coming here from Yonago, which has had a great success, so I'm hoping he's willing to work the extra mile--mainly uphill.

 

Alright, so on Monday we visited the family that Hiratsuka Choro and the Choro that he exchanged with found. Close by there was also a PI we found that said we should come back when it was bright out (it was 7:30 and pitch black when we housed them). Unfortunately, nothing came of it. BUT, we'll still try.

 

Tuesday: We had kids' eikaiwa and regular eikaiwa. I taught the students hippopotomonstrosesquipidaliophobia. The week before was antidisestablishmentarianism. Other than that, we taught the investigator I mentioned in the previous email. He's doing a lot better with remembering what we teach, as well as saying his prayers. We invited him to be baptized on 1/11, but he feels he needs more time.

 

Wednesday: Hiratsuka's bike has been having some small issues with the front shifter and the parts needed to replace it finally came in. We made the 40 minute ride to the bike shop and waited while they repaired it. After that we housed a bit in the area Carver Choro and I went last week; the one with all the brand new houses and young families. We then had to hurry back for a lesson at 7 with the GC investigator. We planned out a way good lesson and mogi'd it tons, and it ended up going really well. We invited him to be baptized on 12/28. He shot it down but he feels he's not ready to be baptized. After that lesson we had to go to an eki to give the contact info of a returned missionary to a PI that he found way back in February. That guy ended up not coming and said he'd drop by the church on Sunday to get the info. WELL, on the ride back from the apartment, at 8:50-ish, the left pedal on Hiratsuka's bike fell off. It just fell off. That bike shop honestly has to be the worst bike shop in the world because they keep "fixing" things that end up creating "new" ones to be fixed.

 

Friday: District Meeting, and companion exchanges with the ZL's. The two of them both came to Kitarokko and left their companions to work together in Nishinomiya. I worked with Carter Choro, who was also trained by Bogedahl Choro, and Hiratsuka worked with Aono Choro, who's probably the most entertaining Nihonjin in the world. Right as the four of us left the apartment, there was a guy walking by that Aono Choro immediately approached. He's actually Filipino. He doesn't know much Japanese. He teaches English at the nearby middle school. It was cool talking with him and he even said he'd come to church on Sunday! Afterwards, as I was working with Carter Choro, I was using Hiratsuka's bike which meant I had to keep getting off and tightening the bolt that hold the pedal on. Well, eventually, the bolt simply just stripped. Don't worry, the bike is older (4 years old).

 

Saturday: We went hiking with one of our investigators and a member of the ward. We hiked to the top of Mt. Rokko and ate lunch together up there. It ended up taking way longer than we expected, so there wasn't much time afterwards. That extra time was spent getting a ride from a member to the bike shop who happened to be taking his son's bike in for repairs. We left Hiratsuka's bike there--which will soon be Pace Choro's bike--while they fix it, he's borrowing one from a member. After that the Bishop and his wife had us over for dinner. I shared a message about faith and enduring trials, using the Mormon Message video from President Eyring's "Mountains to Climb" talk, D&C122:5-8 and 2Ne12:2 (The house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains). Pretty much I talked about how trials (mountains) are there for our benefit and growth, and through the Atonement and Christ's power we can endure anything. Then I ended by saying how climbing those mountains not only makes us stronger but brings us closer to God (his house is established at the top). The Bishop and Hiratsuka both said it was a really good message.

 

Sunday: The Filipino guy came to church! He had a lot of questions about the service. We also made an appointment with him this Saturday to answer more questions. After church, we housed more in the area with all the new houses and such. Lastly, we had dinner at the Naganuma family's house. It was way fun and the four of us missionaries shared the message we planned using Elder Holland's "Lord, I Believe" talk to strengthen the resolve of the 22-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter to serve missions.

 

Yes, we heard about the typhoon in the Philippines from the members. The family of the Filipino guy is also fine since they're living in the northern part of the Philippines. He said the news is saying it's probably the biggest storm ever recorded in human history. He also remarked that there are lots of people like us (Mormons) from Japan and the Southeast Asia area helping out.

 

That's all I have for this week. For now, give everyone my best, as always.

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老

11/11/13

Mom and Dad,

 

Wow, this transfer went by fast. I just hope I don't train next transfer--I don't feel ready!

 

This week was going on looking like it would end in a short email, but Saturday included a surprise that'll make it a little longer.

 

Monday: The Naganuma family wanted us to come by and share a message about dendo to strengthen their 22-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter's fire to serve a mission. We ended up not being able to, though, because one of their cars broke down, but it was still a pretty awesome day!

 

Tuesday: We biked up the foothills of Mt. Fuji again to have a last-minute lesson with the investigator up there before he went off on a trip for a week or so. November 1st was the start of suit season, meaning you should wear your suit whenever are outside. Well that day was actually surprisingly warm, so we took off our coats to bike up--but we put them back on before the lesson. Believe me, if you saw or experienced that mountain, you'd understand.

 

Wednesday: We had an exchange with the DL and his trainee. Instead of swapping companions, they both came to Kitarokko and we split up. I went with the DL and Hiratsuka went with the trainee. It went really well. I spent a lot of time with the DL going over additional training on how to be an effective missionary and a true disciple. He mentioned that the reason was because I need to be entirely independent--which really means "you'll probably train next transfer." Oh boy. After all the training I got from him, which I'm actually very grateful for, we went way out to find some potential investigators and to tract. We also received a text from the Protestant investigator that he doesn't want to meet anymore, which is very sad. His Protestant friends are giving him a difficult time. We planted the "Gospel seed" and hopefully he will nourish it sometime in the future and it will grow. It was still a pretty cool exchange. Hiratsuka and Isaac apparently found a family that seems to be interested.

 

Friday: District Meeting (finally).There hasn't been a District Meeting all transfer because of transfers, interviews, and the double Zone Training Meetings. The Meeting went really well: we learned a pretty crazy, new grammar point from one of the ZL's, and we also spent a lot of time learning/discussing the Mission Training Plan. After that, and after getting back to Kitarokko, we spent the rest of the day finding investigators.

 

Saturday: The day of surprises. Last Monday, there was a family that Hiratsuka and I found while housing, and the mother is really interested in the concept of eternal families and such. She invited us to come back on this day, so we did that. Turns out she couldn't meet just then, but we set up another appointment. After we got back, we were going to continue our daily study and eat lunch, when there was a surprise voice at the door. We went and found the two AP's standing in our genkan! They came by to go on exchanges with the two of us. We ended up not getting to finish studying because the AP's wanted to get to work. We went to lunch at a curry house, then the junior AP, Carver Choro, and I took off while the senior, Kershisnik Choro (the super-awesome guy who's been AP for 5 transfers), spent time with Hiratsuka. Honestly, if I took the time to write everything I wanted to say about what I learned, what we did, how much of a boss Carver Choro is, and how much I was intimidated to be on an exchange with him, etc., it would take A LONG TIME and the email would be REALLY LONG. Let's just say I couldn't be happier or more excited to do anything than to be a missionary serving in this mission at this time. I will say, however, that I was exhausted by the end of the exchange because of working so hard. I think I mentioned this, but the two of them served together in Kitarokko last year, so he was already excited to be back and see what's changed; in addition to his excitement to serve, made it all the better. The funniest part: they left before the day was over, so Hiratsuka and I had even more time to go out and work. Needless to say, I went to bed a little early that night.

 

Sunday: Sunday is always good. Right after church we went to visit a potential investigator that we found on Thursday. She actually told us that we should come by before noon because her husband has no interest in religion. Problem is that church ends at 1pm so the husband was there and he didn't want us to present a lesson. We also had the same investigator that came to church last week come this week, which was excellent. That night we went out with Asada Kyodai again to visit people. We went to visit one of our investigators and hopefully teach a lesson. We didn't get the lesson in, but we're going to keep trying. We decided to visit him every week.

 

Other than that, I have breaking news:

 

I just got an email from Bogedahl Choro. The lady we challenged to be baptized and was originally scheduled on October 13th, then the 27th, got baptized on Saturday! Unfortunately the awesome young man, that was suppose to be baptized too, did not get baptized.

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老

November 4, 2013

Mom and Dad,

 

Monday-Normal P-day: We ran around and got lots of miscellaneous things done.

 

Tuesday: Kids' eikaiwa in the morning. This week was my turn to teach. Let me say: it's way awkward standing in the front of a room full of kids and their mothers and teach English. Also, it's expected that you act silly and what not for the kids, so that makes it even more awkward for us. I decided that from now on the gaijin sister missionary and I will teach together so she can be silly and I can be a little more normal. Don't you love compromises?

 

We rang one of our investigator's doorbell twice and knocked, but he didn't answer. We were sure that he was there, so we called him. No answer. We rang again and finally he came to the door. He opened it only to shut the door and lock it. Hiratsuka and I had no idea what happened so we kind of stood there for a couple minutes. We then called him again. No answer. We rang his doorbell again and he answered saying he was sorry and that he had forgotten about the appointment and was in the bathroom. He added that he'd see us next week.

 

Tuesday is also regular Eikaiwa. I added a new dimension to our teaching. After I finish teaching that week's lesson, I play hangman with the students and teach them a really long English word. Last week was fluccinocinihilipilification. This week was pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis. They love it! This Tuesday will probably be hippopotomonstrosesquipidaliophobia.

 

Wednesday: we taught the young investigator who is Protestant. He had asked his Protestant friends about prophets and the priesthood, to which they said both no longer exist. Latter-day prophets and the priesthood are truths that are going to be difficult to teach him about because of those that do not have that knowledge.

 

Thursday: We biked up the foothills of Mt. Fuji again to teach one of our investigators. He's a way solid guy and understands spiritual things, but he has a couple of hurdles that are hindering him from accepting the Gospel. He is kind of along the lines of a philosopher. I always thought that teaching people with a Christ centered base would be easier because they would recognize the truth more readily--there's so much I have to learn!

 

That evening we also went to the house of an investigator with the sister missionaries--I'm going to refer to them as the shimai from now on. The investigator wanted us to be at a Halloween party she was holding for some elementary school kids she works with--to be an example for the kids and to help them with English. Well, there were probably twelve kids or so; all grade school boys except for one girl. It was a very long, very exhausting hour-and-a-half.

 

Friday: We had Zone Training Meeting, so we were in Kobe again. Awesome! I love Kobe and the honbu. ZTM was really great; our ZL's are way awesome. One of them was also trained by Bogedahl Choro. At ZTM we talked a lot about how to apply the new Mission Training Plan, and to prepare some special lessons plan for it. Compared to previous ZTM's, it was a little short--probably because we just had one two weeks before. Oh, I also bought a jar of Nutella from the honbu. Life keeps getting better and better! :)

 

Saturday: we rode way far out along a super narrow, curvy highway that had no space for bikes. Yes, if you saw it, mom, you would freak out. Our reason was to visit an investigator that hasn't been met with in awhile. I haven't met with him before so I didn't know a whole lot about him. The conversation lasted only about a minute and that was mainly Hiratsuka Choro was trying to get him to talk. While we were out there we did a lot of searching, then we headed back for a lesson we had scheduled with the really energetic guy we met with right after General Conference. It was a really good lesson and the member we had there was really helpful. We invited the investigator to come to church, but he declined. He doesn't quite see the need or importance of going to church.

 

Sunday: He came to church! Funny the way the Spirit works, huh? He actually showed up right after the Sacrament was finished, but was able to catch all of the testimonies that were shared. He went home after Sacrament meeting so he missed out on Sunday school and Priesthood. After church we went dendo-ing with Asada kyodai, the amazing hair-cutter. He probably has some of the strongest dendo fire in the ward. On Sundays (as often as he can) he takes the missionaries in his car and dendo-s with them. We visited a lot of less actives as well as several potential investigators; we also visited the guy who's super busy and, therefore, difficult to meet with. It was probably one of the most productive Sundays I've had in my life!

 

Lastly, do you remember Elder Holland's talk from April Conference entitled "Lord, I Believe"? All should read it and ponder it--that includes anybody reading this on my missionary blog!

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng

It's a really great talk that has helped me. We are going to teach the principles in the talk tonight at a dinner appointment.

 

That's all I have for this week. I took a little more time this week since I had time to read and respond to two weeks worth in one email. Give everyone my best!

 

愛、

～ウィルソン長老